Annunciator



Feb- 7, 1939. M. HAISE LYTONY ET AL 6 ANNUNCIATOR Filed Dec. 28, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 ywfhlNVE NTORS j M. L. HASELTON BY MAY Amv l l l Feb 7, 1939.

BL LE M. L. HASELTON E1 AL ANNUNCIATOR Filed Dec. 28, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet l l I I FIG. 8"A.

Bmr

'INV'ENTORS M. L.HASELTON BY H. F. AY

v ,ATT RNEY Bbl Feb. 7, 1939.

M. L. HASELTON ET ANNUNCIATOR Filed Dec. 28, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 VINVENTORS M, HASELTON BY H. E MAY 7 2mm EY three vertical rows.

Patented- UNITED STATES:

PATENT oFFics- ANNUNCIATO'AR MQl'tOll' 1.. Haselton, Rye, andilarold I; May,

Valley Stream, N. Y.,- assignors to The Teleregister Corporation, New York, N. 1., a, corporation of Delaware Application December 28, 1933, Serial No. 104,246

3 Claims. (Cl. 117-449) This invention relatesrto an indicator or annunciator and more particularly to such a device for displaying information in illuminated'characters and to the various circuit arrangements for controlling the same.

. r One of the objects of the invention is to enable a plurality .01 characters to be posted by .means of a common controlmechanism and to permit said characters to be maintained while companion characters are being deleted or changed.

Another object is to produce an annunciator having characters composed of various combinations of lamps in which any desired combination may be 'set up, deleted or changed from .a remote point'and in which each combination of lamps selected may be retained independently of the remote control apparatus. 1

A further object is to produce a bulletin board composed of a number of lines 0! characters, each character being iormed by a predetermined combination 01 a number oi elements selectively controlled 'iromfa-remote point.

A still further object is to provide means for automatically selecting successive characters in successive lines for response to the character selecting conditions. I v Still another object is to enable an entire line of characters to ,be deleted simultaneously and independently of other lines or to enable the entireboard to be deleted simultaneously. v I Other objects are to enable the recording to occur in any one of a number of lines, to control such recording either remotely or by a locally operated selecting mechanism and to pro-- vide such a system which is simple,.inexpensive to install and operate, reliable" in operation and...

unique in appearance.

Other objects and advantages'of the invention will ap ar hereafter.

. In accordance with our invention we provide a bank of lamps for each character to appear in the annunciator or sign, individual characters being formed by selecting predetermined combinations of the lamps of each bank, ior operation. Where numerals only are to be displayed, as for instancein baseball scor boards.

racing results, election returns, etc.. .we prefer to employ a bank oi fifteen lamps arranged in ters are'to be displayed, asin displaying news items, train'announcem'ents and the like, we preten to employ a unit composed oi twenty-five lamps disposed in five vertical rows. The lamps iii! employed may be of the-gaseous discharge type,

-reference to the accompanying drawings, in

"indicator unit;

If both numerals and letsuch as negative glow neon lamps in which the voltage required to holdthe lamp in operation once it has been started is materially less than the voltage required to start a discharge through the lamp, but other types of lamps having ma- 5- terially different operating. characteristics from theirstarting characteristics may also beem-.

ployed. Ordinary incandescent lamps may be used by providing means in circuit therewith which while not effective to start the lamp will 10 hold it in operation once it has been started by some auxiliary means.

A common control mechanism is provided for v the entire board, the iunction oi. which is (1) to selectja lamp bank or'unit for the display of a 15 character; (2) to remove the holding condition irom all thelamps of-the selected unit so as to a extinguish the lamps thereof; (3) to apply a starting condition to predetermined ones of the lamps, depending upon the character to be post- 20 ed; (4) while maintaining such starting condi-, tion, to reapply said holding condition so as to retain the selected lamps in operation independently oi the starting condition; and (5) to remove, the starting condition from the selectedss lamps.

The manner in which these various operations maybe accomplished will best be understood ,by

which:

Figures 1A and 13 comprise a circuit arrangement for controlling an indicator or annunciator, in accordance with the present invention;

Figure 2' is a plan view 01' a preferred type of lamp employed in the inclicator'units; 5

- Figure 3 is a side elevation of the lamp shown in Fig. 2;

Figure 4 is afront elevation of one form of fl igure 5 is Figure 6 is a diagrammatic arrangement show-- ing a manner 0! employing a modified form of lamp fliig ure ,7 shows onemanner of forming nu- 45 merals using a unit composed of 15 lamps:

Figures 8A and'8B comprise a modified circuit arrangement for controlling a bulletin board;

Figure 9 shows a manner ofjtorming the varigus characters'utilizing a. bank of 25 -lamps for 0 j each character, and

Figure 10 is a circuit diagram 0! a telegraph control'ror the annunciator or bulletin board. -Reierring first to Figure 4, we haveshown a bank LB comprising 15 lamps numbered 1 to 15,, 5

a side elevation of the indicator 40. unit shown in Fig. 4; i

5 higher voltage has been applied, after 2 code relays CRI to CRIB arranged in three inclined rows with flve lamps in each row. Each lamp is mounted in a separate compartment I 3, the front or exposed side of which may be open so that. the lamp may be 5 viewed end on, or covered by a transparent or translucent plate or sheet 20. In the preferred embodiment each lamp comprises an envelope I'I (Figs. 2 and 3) containing a cathode I8 and anode I9, the former comprisinga disk disposed 10 within. an insulating cup it and arranged transversely to the envelope and the latter comprising a ring spaced above and substantially encircling the insulating cup i6. The envelope contains a filling of a gas such as neon, argon, or a '15 mixture of such gasesat a pressure such as to v cause a negative glow to cover the exposed face of the cathode when an appropriate voltage is applied between the electrodes.

It is a characteristic of such lamps that a dis charge may be maintained therein at a voltage considerably lowerv than that required to start the discharge therethrough. For the purpose 1 of the present invention we prefer to employ a neon Lamp having a minimum starting voltage of approximately 90 volts and an operating volt-Q age of approximately 70 volts.

By producing discharges through predetermined of the lamps in each group, the various numerals from 1 tot? and zero may be formed In Figure 7 we have shown diagrammatically the lamps required to be operated to display each digit. It is to be understood thatany desired number of banks LB maybe employed side-byside, one over the other, or in any other arrange ment, so as to enable a plurality of characters to be displayed.

In general theformation of the various characters is effected by momentarily applying a voltage to the particular lamps of a bank comprising the character, sumciently high to start the dising voltages to the lamps. The control is effected through a keyboard comprising the digit keys .1 toQ-and zero, a blank key BL and a number of bank or unit selecting keys SKI, SK2, SK3, etc-., one of which is individual to each of the banks of 5 lamps LBI, LE2, LE3, etc.

Each of the digit keys has a code relay,.CRI, CR2, eto., associated therewith, the contacts of each of the code relays either applying a starting voltage from the grounded starting battery 60 SBI, to one or mor of the conductors 22, or

controlling the operation of one or more of a number of group relays GI, G2, G3, which in turn apply a starting potential from the groundedv battery SB to'pr'edetermined ones of the conductors 55 22. Group relay GI has six contacts controlling the operation of lamps numbered 1, 6, 11, 5, 10 and 15; Group. relay G2 controls the operation of lamps numbered 11 to '15 and relay G3 concausing the operation of coderelay CR3 which ing contacts of the bank selecting relays SRI, SR2, etc. When one of these relays, such as SRI, is operated, the conductors are extended to the terminals of the lamps of the corresponding lamp bank LEI. The opposite terminal of each lamp. is grounded at G. Each of the relays SRI, SR2, etc. has a pair of locking contacts 23, one of which is connected to ground G2, through the winding of the associated bank selecting relay and the other of which is connected by the common conductor L to the back contact of the slow operating unlocking relay ULR. Relays SRI, SR2, etc. have their ungrounded terminals joined through individual conductors SI, S2, etc. to one contact'of thedigit selecting keys SKI, 3K2, etc. respectively. The opposite or left contact of each of the selecting keys is joined by conductors HI, H2, H3, etc. through individual resistances R to the ungrounded terminal of each of the lamps of the associated bank and serve, when the keys SKI, 8K2, etc. are resting on their left hand sides, to apply a normal operating or holding potential from the grounded holding battery HBI to the individual lamps. V

The unlocking relay ULR has one terminal of its winding connected to grounded battery and the opposite terminal connected by conductor 24 to one side of each of the keys BL andl to 9 and 0.

' The operationof the system is as follows:

Assuming it is desired to post the numeral 3 on lamp bank LBI, the operator first operates the key SKI to the right thereby interrupting the circuit from holding battery HBI over conductor HI to the lamps of bank LBI, extinguishing any of the lamps which may be operating at the time. As the key SKI engages its right. hand contact battery is applied over the conductor SI to the winding of gang relay SRI which operates and locks up from ground through the relay winding, contacts 23, conductor L and back contact of the unlocking relay ULR to battery. The key SKI is immediately released returning to its left hand side and again applying holding battery tothe lamps of bank LBI, but since this battery is not suflicient to start a discharge therethrough, none of the extinguished lamps operate. The

digit key 3 is now operated to apply ground to both its left and right hand contacts, the latter relay SRI is operated at this time, the battery trols the operation of lamps 3, 8 and 13. These.

7 particular groups of lamps enter into the formation of a number of characters and. materially reduce the number'of cont'acts required on The individual conductors. 1 to 15 of group 22 are extended by a common cable M to correspondthe SBI is applied directly across the lamps 1, 6, 11,-

12, 13, 8, 3, 14, 1 5. 10 and 5, which lamps collectively comprise the numeral 3; The battery S31 is of a voltage sufliciently high to start a dis charge through these lamps.

The closing of key 3.against its left hand side applied ground overconductor 24 to the unlocking relay ULR. Since this relay is slow to operate, it does not open its contact until a suflicient time has elapsed to assure that the voltage from battery SBI has been appliedto the various selected lamps. Upon operation of the relay ULR the locking circuit for gang relay SRI is broken.

causing this relay to release, thereby removing the high voltage from the enumerated .lamps. However, since the holding battery HBI is ap-,

plied to these lampsat this time, they continue to operate independently oi subsequent operations 01' the controlling mechanism, until extinguished by a subsequent movement of the key SKI.

In this same manner any of the numerals may be set up upon any of the lamp banks. Should it be desired at any time to delete the character on any bank, this may be done by momentarily moving the key SK associated with such bank from its left contact to interrupt the holding battery. If in this operation the key is not permitted to en gage its right contact, the gang relay SRI 'ass o=- ciated with the bank will not be operated, but.

should the gang relay be so operated it may be released by closing the blank key BL- for a period suiiicient to operate the unlocking relay ULR.

It will be noted from the foregoing that we have provided a system whereby various characters may be set up in illuminated form and each digit maintained, deleted ofchanged independently of the others, through a common keyboard mechanism. We have found that by inclining the digits .as shown in Figure 4, they are renderedmore legible.

Obviously in place 01' using neon lamps, any

type of lamp may be employed in which a .diflerent condition is required tostart the lamp from that required to maintain it in operationand in Figure 6 we have shown diagrammatically a modication employing an incandescent lamp. In this modification the lamp is started into operation by closure of a key '30 which corresponds to the operation of one of the code relays ORI of Figure 1A. The starting current produced on Q closure of key III flows through the heating element SI of a thermal contact 32, thereby closing the contact 32 and enabling the lamp to continue in operation from the holding battery HIB' through the key SK'which corresponds to the key l SKI, SK2.:etc. of Figure 1A. The current from the battery HB' maintains the contact 32 .closed until interrupted by manual operation of the key] SK. 'The manner in which this arrangement may be incorporated in the system shown in Figures 1A and 13 will be obvious.

In-Figures 8A and 828 we have shown a bulletin system in which a number of lines of characters comprising bothletters and .figure's may be displayed. In order to form properly the various letters of the alphabet we prefer to employ a bank of twenty-five lamps arranged in five vertical rows. An arrangement of the variousflamps to iorm each letter and numeral is shown in Figure' 9;

Banks of lamps BLI to BLf are arranged in a number of successive lines, indicated as line 1 and line 2, in Figure 83, each line comprising any desired number of lamp banks. The form of i the character appearing in each lamp bank is controlled from a common keyboard, comprising a blank key BL,-line.feed key LF, letter character keys A. B, C, etc., numerical keys 1, 2, etc., and a number of special function keys which will be freterred to h'ereinaften- The's ystem is so arranged that the successive lines and the succes- LS I L82; L83, etc., for each line of the board and sive lamps .in each line are automatically selected in succession, as the various character and special function keys are operated. For this purpose we employ a'line selecting relay chain LRC common to the board and a bank-selecting relay BSR and .a slow acting .controlling relay SCR individual .to each bank'of lamps. The line selecting relay chain LRC .hasan individual line selecting relay three prime relays A, B, andC.

The individual lamps of each bank. are contacts.

sociated witheach line of units, to one side of each of the lamps ineach of the banks. The opposite side of each lamp is grounded.

Each of, the conductors l to 25 of group 32 controls an individual one of the lampsin each bank under the selective control of the gang relays men'- tioned and the keyboard mechanism, as will pres.- ently appear.- The common holding circuit for each bank of lamps is indicated by the conductors Hi, H2, H3, etc., the circuits of which will be subsequently traced. v

Each character key A,.B, C, etc., has associated with it an individual code relay CRa, CRb, etc.,

the contacts of which when closed apply potential from the grounded batterySB to predetermined ones of-the conductors of group 32, and/or to one or more of the group relays GRI, GR2, 6R8. GR! and GR, which in turn place potential from the battery 83 on predeterminedones of the cone ductors l2. The relays GRI to. GR! represent combinations of lamps in the lamp bank-which occur-frequently in the formation of the various characters. Reterring to the numbering 01' the lamps in each bank as shown in Figure 9. relay GRI controls the application of battery to lamps numbered 2, 3 and 4; relay GR2 applies battery to lamps 12, 13 and 1;4; relay (3R3 applies battery to lamps 22, 23, and 24; relay GR! controls the operation oflamps 6, 11 and i6; and relay GR! applies battery to lamps 10, 15and 20.-

The system will be best understood by reference to a specific example. Assume it is desired k to post the characters A and B on the first twobanks of line 1 of the bulletin board: the operator first operates the line'i'eed key LF connectingbattery Bl) over conductors 34 and", through the lower back contacts, in series, otrelays C. B,

and A of relaychain LRC to the winding of ,relay LSI and thence to ground. Relay LSI upon oper ating preparesa circuit through its lovver contact 88 to the second relay LS2 voi the chain. It also prepares a locking circuit for itself over contact 31, the winding oi. relay A'and the back contact of relay B and thence over conductor II, key 30 and master release key, MR to battery Bmr. Cur- I rent does not flow, however, through the winding I, of relay A until operating battery at. the key L!" is u removed by releasingkey LF. A third circuit extends irombattery Bmr' through the keys MR and 39 and-lower contact 42 of relay LSI and thence by conductor ,to'the winding of the line control relay LCRI which ,upon operation connects the conductors 1 to25 of the cable 83 to the line cable LCJ', thereby selecting the lamp banks 01' line 1 for operationin response to; the succeeding actuations of the keyboard. Upon the release of the line feed key LF current flows h om the source 'Bmr through the locking relay A and the line selecting relay LSI to ground, operating the relay I A and locking up these relays. The operation oi. relay Aat its contact 33 further prepares the cir-' edit from conductor "to the second relay'LS2 oi the chain LRC. v The character key A is-now operated to apply battery Ba to bothits left and right. hand con:-

operates coding relay CR1! and the closing of the left hand contact energizes relay 4! which locks up the coding relay CRG through one of the con The closing or the. right hand contact,

* SB to conductors numbered 3, 7, 9, 11, 15, 16, 20,

tacts 48a of the latter relay. The remaining contacts of relay CRa apply battery from the source 21 and 25 and also energize group relay GR2 which applies the same battery to conductors 12, 13 and 14, These conductors are associated with the lamps forming the letter A. l The closure of left contact of key A also applied'the battery Ba by way of conductor 41, through the lowermost contact 48 of line controlling relay LCRI and the lower back contact of-rel'ay SCRI to the winding of relay BSRi to ground. Relay BSRI interrupts the holding circuit Hi for the lamps of bank BLI; this holding circuit normally extending from battery Bmr, key MR, conductor 5|, upper contacts' of line release key LRI, contact 52 ofv relay SCRI and the armature 58 and its back contact of relay BSRI to conductor Hi, which extends through resistances to each of the lamps of bank BLI in parallel to ground. The energization of relay BSRI, as stated, interrupts the holding circuit at its armature 53 thereby causing any operated lamps in this bank to be extinguished.

The armature 53 at the same time connects the battery Bmr, through its make contact, to the winding of bank gang relay BRI to connect the conductors of cables LCI to the lamps of bank BLi. Since conductors numbered 1 to 16, 20, 21 and 25 were connected to the high potential starting battery SB by operation of key 'A. the corresponding number of lamps of bank BLI are started. Relay BSRi closes a locking circuit through its contact 54, winding of relay SCRI, lower contacts 01 the line release key LRi, conductor 55, break contact and armature 5B or line selecting relay LS2 and keys 89 and MB to battery Bmr. Relay SCRi being short circuiteddoes not pick up, however, until key A 15 released. Upon operation relay SCRI closes itsupper contact 5'! thereby reapplying the holding battery from the upper contacts of the line release key LRI and contacts Bl to the conductor Hi thereby holding operated the selected lamps. Immediately thereafter contacts 52 open removing battery from the bank relay BRi to disconnect therefrom the cable LCI. The lower armatul'e B8 of relay SCRl operates to its make contact thereby preparing a circuit from contact 48 of relay LCRi to the bank selecting \relay BSR2 of the nextbank of lamps BLZ. The release of I key A releases relay t5 which releases coding relay (31m. The relay 65 being slow releasing does not release CRa before SCRB reconnects holding battery to the bank of lamps ELL 7 The key B may now be depressed to set up this character upon bankBLZ of line 8. When this occurs relay CRb is operated and locks up through relay 85' and at the same time applies the batter? SB to conductors 1, 1o, and 21and operates group relays GRi, GRZ, GRt and GRil. These latter relays in turn apply the starting battery SE to, additional conductors 2, 3, 4; 12, 13. 14;

'22, 23, 24; and 6, 11 and 16. The conductors enumerated correspond to the numbers of the lamps forming the lette'r B. The operation of Roy B also applies the battery Bl) over conductor starting potential applied thereto from battery SB. Relay BSR2 locks up through relay SCR2 and upon operation oi! this latter relay holding battery is reapplied to the lamps of bank B112 and removed from the winding oi. relay'BR2. The armature 58 of relay SCR2 on engaging its make contact prepares the circuit for relay BSR3.

-In this manner any desired characters may be set -up on each successive lamp bank until the end of the line is reached. The final relay SCR) has an extra contact I I which upon closure incident to the posting of a character in bank BLf, completes a circuitfrom holding battery Bmr over the upper contacts of the line release key LRI and conductor 59 through contacts H, conductors 60, 15 and '35, the lower armatures and the break contacts of relays C and Band the armature 44 and make contact of relayuA of the line counting chain LRC and thence through the armature 36 and make contact of relay LSI to the winding of relay 152. This relay upon operating prepares for the operation of the second line of characters, and at its armature 58 interrupts the locking circuit for the relays BSR and SCR of line one causing all theserelays to restore -to normal. As this occurs the holding circuit for the lamps of line one is maintained from the upper contacts of line release key LRI first through armature 51 of relays SCR as relays, BSR release .and as relays SCR, which are slow releasing, subsequently release the circuits are completed through contacts 52 of relays SCR.

and contacts 53 of relays BSR. The character set up on line one are therefore maintained. The armature 56 of relay LS2 and its make contact applies battery over conductor iii to the winding of the line control relay LCR2 of the second line of lamp banks thereby connecting the cable 33 to the cable LC2. Relay LS2 locks up over its upper contact 62 through winding of relay B and the break contact and upper armature of relay C and by keys 39 and MB to battery Bmr. The operation of relay B interrupts the locking circuit for relays LSI and A-so that these relays release. The release of relay LSI interrupts the circuit to theline control relay LCRI to disconnect the cable LCI from cable 33. Relay LS2 at its lower armature l6 prepares'the circuit for the third relay of the chain LS3.

The character keys may now be depressed to set up line two in the same manner'as line one a and upon the operation of the last relayof line two a circuit is established for relay LS3 in the same manner as the circuit for relay LS2 was completed thereby connecting the cable 33 to the third row of lamp banks. Relay LS3 locks up over its upper contact through winding of relay C and the break contact and upper armature of relay A and thence through keys 39 and MR. to battery Bmr, the operation of relay C interrupting the locking circuit for relays LS2 and B so that these relays release, The operation of relays LS3 and C also prepares the circuit for the fourth relay LS4 of the chain. During the successive operating periods of the next three,

BWL. This lamp serves to indicate to the op- "2,146,676 eratmthat the entire board is filled. The relayrelays LSI, LS2, etc, and theirassocia ed line LS! at its armature 03' interrupts the locking circontrolling relays LCRI, LCR2, until the line suit for the relays BBB and SCR of the last line is reached in which the error occurred. Since tojrestcre .these relays to normal. Relay LSf none of the line release keys LR except the one 5 locksup in series with one of the prime relays associated with the line to be rewritten has been 5 A, B or 0, depending on the number of precedoperated, the characters previously posted in the ln'g relaysof the counting chain LRC. 'The opotherflines' are not affected. The operator may eration of key 39 extinguishes lamp BWI and thenproceed to rewri,te the linef releases relay LS! thereby preparing the count- .Again if the operator desires to leave blank any ingch'ain LRC for another cycle of operation. part of the line, this may be accomplished by 10 In case it is not desired to post a complete line operation of the'blank key BL as each lamp bank before proceeding to the succeeding line, as at is selected by means of the relay chain CRC, at the .end of a paragraph or where it is not dewhich time the characters of the preceding dissired to divide the word betweentwo adjacent play are automatically deleted. lines, we provide the blank key BL. Referring If itis desired-to delete the entire board simul- 15 again to line 1 of the bulletinboard and assumtaneously,'this may be accomplished by operation ing the last character to be recorded thereon was of the master release key MR. Opening the condisplayed in bank BLB. Following the posting oftracts of this key interrupts the holding" battery the character in bank BLB, the blank key BL Bmr to the entire board causing all th lamps to ao would be operated three times in succession to be extinguished. It also interrupts thecircuit to 2o transfer; the cable II to the -next lower line of both the line relay chain LRC and the bank lamp units. The first operation of the blank key controlling relays BBB and SCR restoring all of 1 BL applies battery Bbi .over conductor 41 to these relays to normal.

contact 48 of relay LCRI and the lower arr'ria- If it is desired to return to the first line to tures II and their make contacts of relays SCRL. change the characters thereon before completing 25 to the winding of relay BSRT. Operation of thisv the entire board. h key 39 m y be Operatedrelay removes holding battery' from, the lamps, This key removes the battery Bmr from the line of bankBLl'extinguishing any lamps therein relay chain'LRC, denergizing' all relays in the which may have been operated in' a previous chain and restoring the same tonormal. Therecycle. Relay SCRI locks up in series therewith after line ieed key LF may be operated to en- 80 and prepares a circuit to the succeeding relay ergize relay LSI of thechain and thus prepare BSRO. The next two operations of the blank key the lamp units of. the first line for subsequent BL actuate relays B8B! and BSRI, extinguishoperation. g v v ing the lamps, if previously lighted, in banks. If .it is desired to omit a line or a number of BL. and BL). Relays BSRB and BBB! lock up lines; line relay chain LRC may be operated down 35" in series with the windings of relays SCR8 and .to the proper line on which posting is to again 8031. The operation of relay SCR! operates the start by successive operations of the line feed key relay LSlof chain LRC to effect the transfer of LF. Each operation of this key applies to batcable 33 to the next lower line of lamp units. tery Bif over conductors 34 and 36 to successive o Inyorder to indicate to. the operator when the r lays f h chain LRQ slwcesslvely 40 end of a line is being approached, one of the operating the gang relays LORI, LCR2, etc., relays, as BCR8 in'the present "embodiment, is until the desired line is reached. provided with an' additional contact ll which Again if it is desired to provide a number of upon operation of the relay completes a circuit blank characters at the beginning of a line as 5 for'the line warning lamp LWL. This circuit in-par s p n -b t t blank y B extends from the battery .Bmr, key MR conmay beoperated a number of times-to actuate ductor 8!, upper contactsbf =key LRI, conductor and lock up the relays BSR and SCR of the line- IO and contact ll of relay 8013.6 to lamp LWL- in question up to and including the relays assoand to ground. I ciatedwith the last blank space to appear before 5 If it is desired toblank out an entire line being starting the line, 4 a N posted at any time, as for instancevwhen an Itwill be observed from the above that an exerror has been made in posting a character, the tremely flexible system has been provided in -line release key. LEI, LE2, etc., of the line may which a number of successive lines may be posted be operated. 'I'his key at its upper contacts re-. by operation of the characterkeys only and in moves holding battery Bmr from all the lamps which anyapart of a line may be deleted or rein the bank, extinguishing. the same, and at its corded on. Moreover the entire board or a single lower contacts removes locking battery from each line thereof may be simultaneously deleted and of the relays B8B and SCR, causing all of these recording may occur on any line'independently of relays to be released. If the error occursbefore fthe others. 3 K K so the character, is posted in the'last BL! of While the various function keys BL, LF, MR, '60 any line, the operation of the couiiting chain 38, and LRI, LRZ, etc., are shown remote from. relay'LS associated with such line is nogafiected. the character keys, this is for simplicity in illus If the last character in the line has be n posted tration, it being understood that these keys form and contact ll of relay 8C8} of the line closed, part of asingle-key' board mechanism.

o5 "causingiopera'tion' of the counting chain relay LS In place of manual operation of the key coriand line control relay 110R; corresponding to the 4 trol' contacts, these contacts may be controlled next succeeding-line, the key 30 may be operated.- telegraphically from a remote point. In Figure 'Ihis key removesthe battery Bmr from the. line- 10 .we haveshown one form of remote control relay chain-1R0, deenergizing all relays in the .jfor this'purpose. The signals originate at a tele- 70. chain and restoring them to-normal', after which graph transmitter T which may be a keyboard the line relay chain maybe operated by succes- 3 transmitter or an automatic transmitter, such as sivelactuations of the line feed key LF, each I a perforated tape or metallic storage transmitter. 1 actuation of .the'key'applyins battery B lfnover Any suitable, code may be employed; in the spevconductors 34 and ll to successiverelays of the cific embodiment illustratedthe transmitter '15- chain thereby successively operating the 'has a start contact Sand six code contacts numf 75 1 bered 1 to 6, corresponding to a six unit permutation code. At the receiving terminal we provide a start-stop distributor S--SD having a pair of receiving rings IM and I02 traversed by a brush I03 and a pair of local rings I04,I05 crossed by a brush I06. The line L is connected to the solid receiving ring I02. 'Ring IOI has a rest segment 'R and six code segments I to .0, connected individually to the six selecting magnets MI to M6. The rest segment R is connected through the stop magnet SM to ground.

The local ring I05 has battery I01 applied thereto and the companion ring I04 has a single local segment I08 connected to ground through the control magnet I09.

fanned as shown, so as to enable a circuit to be completed from conductor IIO to any one of a plurality of relays I I I, each of which corresponds to an individual key of the manual keyboard shown in Figures 8A and 8B. The contacts of relays III correspond to the contacts of the keys BL, LF, A, B, C, etc. and are indicated by similar reference characters primed. In Figures 8A and 8B twenty-six letter keys, ten numeral keys, four. special function keys, BL, LF, MR, and 39, and a key LR for each l ne are shown. This comprises a total of forty keys exclusive of the .line release keys LR. The number of keys, re-

lays and relay contacts, and the circuit arrange-- ments, may vary within wide limits, depending upon the number of combinations or available selections desired. With a six unit code inthe.

arrangement shown in Fig. 10, sixty-four magnets III may be selected thus providing an individual magnet for each or the forty keys and for twenty-four line keys.

The conductor H0 is connected through the front contact and armature of relay- I id, to the front contact of relay I09, the armature of whichisgrounded.

Each of the'relays MI to M0 is provided with a locking contact I I3 connected to the front contact of relay IIQ and thence to grounded battery.

The operation of the remote control system is as follows; If it is desired to operate the line feed relay LF' to prepare the board for posting characters on the first line oflamp banks orunits. a code combination consisting of spacing, spacing, spacing, spacing, marking. spacing 1mpulses is transmitted from the transmitter T. A start impulse also of spacing character precedes this combination thereby releasing the start magnet SM and causing the brushes I03 and I00 to pass over their respective rings in synchronism with the received signals. As the brush leaves ductor I I0 to the winding of relay II I controlling the contacts LF', which circuit is completed as the brush I00 passes on to local segment I08 to energize relay I09 and as relay H0 is slow re-- leasing ground is applied through the front contacts of relays its and ii lto the conductor lit and thence to the winding of relay III controlling the contact LF. At the same time oper- The contacts of selecting magnets MI to M6 are ating battery is removed from the reIay I ll which releases and opens the locking circuit for the operated selecting magnet M5 but since the relay. II is slow releasing, the relay M5 does not release until relay III has been operated. The release of relay IIQ permits its contacts to drop back to their spacing position,- thereby opening the circuit to conductor H0 and interrupting the energization of relay III to'thereby open the contacts LF' thereof.

The momentary operation of contacts LF' prepares the first line of lamp banks for response to the succeeding characters as described in connection with Figures 8A and 8B. Thecode combinations correspondingto the various characters embodiments of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention'may take still other forms and that various modifications and changes may be made therein without departing from the invention, and therefore we do not desire to be limited to the specific details shown and described but contemplate all such variations and modifications as come within the terms of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. A signaling system c'omprising'a plurality of units each comprising a plurality of electro-responsive visual signaling elements arranged to' form a number of diiferent characters upon 811617 gization of selected ones of the elements, said units being arranged in aplurality of rows, means operable at will for selecting and controlling the energization of selected signaling elements .of each unit including means for selecting the units in succession, means including a selecting relay chain common to said units for automatically selecting the rows of units in succession as the units in each row are energized, said selecting chain being provided with a plurality of switching relays, less in number than the relays in the chain, having contacts thereof arranged in chain relationship for causing the successive operation of the relays of the chain and connections from the relays of the chain to the switching relays for causing the switching. relays to repeatedly operate to perform their switching operations as successive relays of the chain are energized.

2. A signaling system comprising a plurality cf units each comprising a plurality'of electrcr sponsive visual signaling elements arranged form a number of diflerent characters upon ener gization of selected ones of the elements, said units being arranged in a plurality of rows, means operable at will for selecting and controlling the energization of selected signaling elements of each unit including means for selecting the units in succession. means including a selecting relaycounting chain common to said units for automaticallyselecting the rows of units in succession asthe units in each row are energized, said selecting relay chain being provided with a plurality of switching relays, less in number than the relays of the chain, having contacts thereof arranged in chain relationship for causing the successive operation of the relays of the chain; v75

connections from the relays oi the chain to the 7 switching relays for causing the switching relays to repeatedly operate to perform their switching operation as-successive relays of the chain are energized, means for deleting the characters displayed in a row prior to the posting of a character in the last signaling unit of the row. and

I means responsive to said deleting means for controlling the operation of said selecting relay chain to enable the display-ofcharacters to be repeated in said row from which they were deleted, saidlast named means operating to prevent inadvertent skipping of anyrrow due to operation of said selecting relay chain.

3. A signaling system comprising a plurality of units, each comprising a plurality of electro-responsive visual signaling elements arranged to form a number of diflerent characters upon energization of selected ones oi the elements, said units being arranged in a plurality of rows, means operable at energization of selected signaling elements of each unit'including means for selecting the units in succession, means for automatically selecting the rows of units in succession as the units in each row are selected, means for deleting the characters displayed in a row prior to the posting of a character in the last signaling unit of the row, and means responsive to said deleting means for controlling the operation of said means for selecting the rows to enable the display of characters to be repeated in said row from which they were deleted, said last named means operating. to prewiil for selecting and controlling the vent inadvertent skipping of any row due to op- 15 eration of said means-for selecting therows.

MERTON L. HASEt-ITON; HAROLD F. MAY. 

